


Snapple Caps Are Liars

by infinityeggsy



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: High School AU, Lisa just likes to make Cait blush, M/M, Normalize Boys Being Platonically Intimate 2k17, noone is straight here tbh, not really Cait/Lisa, sorry if the sports stuff ain't right i'm gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 00:45:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13224654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinityeggsy/pseuds/infinityeggsy
Summary: “The fourth earl of Sandwich invented the sandwich so he could eat and gamble at the same time.”





	Snapple Caps Are Liars

“The fourth earl of Sandwich invented the sandwich so he could eat and gamble at the same time.” Cisco read out, frowning at the ‘True Fact’ printed on his bottle cap. “Uhh, yeah okay. I guess I’d believe that.” Barry laughed at Cisco’s pinched reaction to the ‘fact’, and Caitlin just smiled at the two before popping open her own tea.

“Manatees’ eyes close in a circular motion, much like the aperture of a camera.” she read.

“… Manatees just got about three times scarier.” Barry said.

“Dude, manatees aren’t even scary ?” Cisco continued frowning. “Are you okay?”

Barry started to argue back when a flush of cool air swirled around Barry’s ankles. He heard the door behind him swung open. He and Cisco twisted around in their chairs when Caitlin refused to look at the look at who came in. They immediately regretted it. Shuffling in were their tormenters-in-chiefs. They didn’t seem to notice Barry and his group, strolling over to consider the menu posted on the wall adjacent the door. Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin usually sit as far in the back as possible but the only table available when they came in was right by the door. Everyone else was smart enough to avoid the winter chill, and they figured that the four-person table wouldn’t be the worst. The three had gone silent since the door opened. Caitlin was fiddling with her bottle cap, and Cisco was making sand of their tortilla chips, but Barry stared after the newcomers. Cisco often accused him of ‘having a grand and enormous death wish’ over this habit. He was brave enough to stare them down, up until one of them stared back. He looked sharply down when he made eye contact with one Lisa Snart. He heard her whispering, then the rumble of a chair being pulled out. Barry risked glancing up when Cisco’s hand curled around his forearm, only to meet the hard glare of Mick Rory, best friend to Lisa’s brother and backliner on their school’s football team. Lisa claims she’d try out, but she didn’t want to “crush those poor boy’s masculinities’ and no one argued with it, she’s tough as hell. Not as outwardly menacing as Mick though. Barry forced his stare back to the table top.

“Hey, Twiggy. Mind if I sit?” Mick ground out. It always sounded like it took a lot of effort when he spoke. Barry almost gave a sharp retort, but common sense got the better of him. He ended up nodding mutely, not removing his eyes from the table. Barry moved his leg out, bumping Caitlin in a mix of apology and comfort. She tapped their fee together in response, and Barry risked smiling across the table at her.

“What’re you smiling at, Twiggy?”

“Hey, let the boy smile. Makes him look even younger.” A new voice entered the conversation, followed by the clack of heels. Seconds later a chair was being commandeered from a nearby table and Caitlin had a lap full of Lisa. At the head of their table now sat the one and only Leonard Snart, the reason for Barry’s supposed death wish. To most people Leonard Snart was just a star athlete and protective brother, kind of a lone wolf excluding his sister and Mick. Everyone vaguely admired him, even if they left him alone most of the time. He could be scary if he really wanted to be. But Barry found him fascinating, in some unnamable way. Cisco thought he was crazy, but he never felt afraid of Leonard. Said Snart was staring him down now, watching him across the table while Cisco held his hand tightly and Caitlin juggled the weight of Lisa. Barry debated telling Snart to fuck off but settled for sticking his tongue out at him.

“Pfft,” he scoffed. “That all you got, Scarlet?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why not?”

Barry sighed before standing up, dragging Cisco up with him, and sending a pointed look at Caitlin, who politely moved out from under Lisa and left her on the chair to grin at her brother. Barry led out into the cold, pulling Caitlin and Cisco close for warmth. Cisco and Caitlin lived just down the road in this big, beige apartment complex. It was good for their families; the rent was good, and it was close to school and work. Barry lived up the road a bit, in this old farmhouse with his dad. It wasn’t far, but it sure felt like it in the cold. It wasn’t quite snowing, but the ground was covered with a good few inches. They often walked home like this when it got cold, huddled together and shuffling along as fast as they could. They reached Caitlin and Cisco’s places with no issue, and they split off with their usual goodbye’s and offers of rides. Barry always said he was fine, he’d be fine walking. Caitlin never approved but she didn’t push it.

Walking alone up a woodsy road isn’t the most ideal, especially with the sun going down, but Barry could handle it. At least he thought he could until it got dark and started snowing. Barry always though snow was pretty, but he has never been caught out in it before. He hugged his jacket tighter around himself. The trees grew more menacing as he went, the dark transforming them into faces and creatures and hands reaching out. Barry kept his head bowed against the wind and silence, reminding himself that they’re just trees, they can’t hurt him, they’re not sentient, but some plants are right? What’s more likely, a zombie uprising or a plant one? Why is he thinking about this now? Barry took a deep breath, reminding himself where he was. He focused on walking, left alone with the rustle of leaves and crunch of snow, until he noticed his shadow shift in front of him. A pair of headlights pulled up behind him, casting long shadows as Barry squinted into the lights. He couldn’t make out the car until it was past him, but he would’ve guessed it was Caitlin’s parents fretting over him or his dad curious where he was. The one person he wouldn’t have guessed was Leonard Snart. The passenger door of the icy blue pickup swung open to reveal an agitated Len, gesturing Barry into the warm cab. Barry hesitated, confused.

“Come on Allen, before we both freeze.”

Contrary to his words, Len didn’t sound angry, so Barry scrambled up and into the passenger seat, hauling the door closed behind him. Len waited for Barry to buckle up before accelerating down the road. He didn’t say anything. Barry fidgeted with his own hands, trying to massage some feeling back into them. He saw Len shake his head in his periphery.

“What were you thinking, walking home in this weather. Alone too.”

Barry frowned. He wasn’t friends with Snart by a long shot, but he was pretty sure he lived on the other side of town from Barry.

“… Do you live up this road, Snart?”

Len’s jaw worked, but he didn’t answer. They drove in silence until Len finally broke it. Barry would be lying if he said he wasn’t surprised.

“Coulda died.”

“What?”

“You coulda died out there, Barry.”

“Oh,” Barry breathed out. “‘S not that cold.”

Len laughed then. A real laugh, not the cold cackle of a bully. Or at least that’s how Barry heard it. Barry had never seen Len smile for real, and he couldn’t help but smile along. They just smiled together, into the silent night. Barry’s house was only ten minutes from Caitlin and Cisco’s, so it was only a few minutes by car. When they reached Barry’s house it was only about 5:15, but it felt much later. Len pulled up the driveway as far as he could without breaching the ring of light emanating from the farmhouse.

“Uh, thanks.” Barry said. “For the ride.”

“Yeah.” Len’s voice was soft. Barry though he heard hesitation in the word but decided they were better off now than they’d ever been, so he opened the door and slid out. He slammed the door shut behind him and walked around the front of the truck.

“Hey, Barry.” Len called. He’d rolled down his window and was leaning out of it, peering at Barry over the side mirror. Barry bounced up on the balls of his feet once, waiting to see if he’d say anything more, before jogging back to the side of the car. Barry had to lean down to look Len in the eyes, he wasn’t that tall, but he still stood taller than the roof of the truck. Barry was half surprised Len hadn’t jacked it up, he seemed the type. But when Barry bent to see Len’s face, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting. Whatever way, he wasn’t expecting Len to reach out and cup his jaw, tilting his head and considering Barry’s face.

“Can I kiss you, Barry?”

It took Barry a full ten seconds of blinking owlishly to answer. Thank god Len hung around him enough to know that slow processing speeds aren’t that unusual with Barry.

“Yeah.”

Len smiled into that kiss, the first of many between them. Len pulled back first, thumb stroking Barry’s absurd cheekbones, before pulling back completely.

“Goodnight, Barry. Call me next time you get caught in the snow.”

Len drove off with a wink, leaving Barry standing in the snow without feeling a hint of the cold. Both boys fell asleep with a smile on their faces that even the winter chill couldn’t defeat.


End file.
